It’s a V8 offroader battle, but without any off-roading.
Electric vehicles will one day fill the streets and trails around the globe. We dive into an off-roader SUV drag race, which is basically a love letter for the V8. It’s a great day for speed when the lowest-powered vehicle has a 470-horsepower (355-kilowatt Hemi). As long as a speed limiter is not in the way, that’s fine. We’ll get to that later.
The contenders. First, the contenders. The Mercedes AMG G63 is the most powerful and heavy at 577 horsepower (430 kW) and 5,622 pounds. The Land Rover Defender has 518 hp (386 kW), and the BMW X7 M50i has 523 hp (390 kW). The middle children weigh approximately 5,480 pounds and are therefore expected to be equally matched.
Yes, on paper. The X7, however, is not like the other performance SUVs featured here. The X7, unlike the Land Rover, Merc, or Jeep, is designed for road-going adventures. It comes with proper on-road tires and launch control. You can probably see the end result, as this race of speed takes place on an enormous, paved runway.
The AMG G63 is a formidable competitor. The G chased the Bimmer through the quarter-mile in two standing-start races. It barely lost to the X7. The Defender and Rubicon alternately bring up the rear, with each losing once. The process is the same as for two mile-long rolling races. However, things are much more embarrassing for Wrangler. Although 470 horsepower is enough to move the SUV, 112 mph is the top speed it can reach.
Although the BMW may have won, the video shows that it is not always a fair fight. It’s possible to move the venue to an off-road setting and it will be a very completely different story.